Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-04-15
DIR. TALMAGE's SERMON,
"come Thou and All Thy House Into
the Ark.

leAs Not Enough to Teach Your Children
Cool Manners, Educate Them, and Pro-
vid Literally for Thcm-You are Re
sponsiblc for Their Souls Welfare.
Dies MONIES, H., March 27.-The Rev,
j. DE Witt Talmage, d. D., preached in
TINS CITY this morning to a vast congrega-
ton. His text was Genesis vii. 1: "Come
thou and all thy house into the ark" The
eloquent preacher snid:
we do not need the Bible to prove the
deiuge. The geologist's hammer an
nounces it. Sea shells and marine forma-
tions on the top of some of the highest
mountains of the earth prove that at some
time the waters washed over the top of the
Alps and the Andes. In what way the
catastrophe came we know not. Whether
by the stroke of a comet, or by flashes of
lightning changing the air into water. orby
a stroke of the hand of God. like the stroke
or the az between the horns of the OK, the
earth staggered. 10 meot~ the catastrophe
Go ordered o great ship built. 1t was to
De without prov, for it was to sail 10 no
shore. 1t was to be without helm, for no
human hand should guide it. 1t was a vast
STRUCTURE, probably rs large rs two or three
Cunard steamers. 1t va the Great Eastern
of olden time.
The ship is done. The door is open.
The lizards crawl IN. The cattle walk in.
The grasshoppers hop in. The birds fly
in. The invitation goes forth to Noah:
Come thou and all thy house into tho
ark" just one human family embark on
the strange voyage, and ! hear the door
slam shut. A great storm sweeps along
the hills and bends the cednrs until all the
hTRnnhnC cnoS, in xhn Goals a.. -, d,
moan in the wind like unto the moan of u
dying world. The blackness of the heav.
ems is shattered by the flare of the light
nings that look down into the waters md
throw a ghastliness OF the face Of the
mountains. How strange it looks! How
suffocating the air seems! The big drops
of rain splash upon the uptu;ned faces Of
those who are watching the tempest.
Crash go the rocks in convnlsion. Boom.
go the bursting heavens. The inhabitants
of the earth, instead of fleeing to house top
and mountain top, us men have fancied,
sit down in dumb, white horror to die. For
let's the ocean slip its cable, there is no
! place for men to fly to. See the ark pitch
and tumble in the surf, while from its
windows the passengers look out upon the
saipwreck of a race md the carcasses of n
dead world. Woe to the mountains! Woe
to the sea!
I am no alarmist. When, on Sept. 20.
after the wind has for three days been
blowing from the northeast, you %prophesy
that the %equinoctial storm is coming you
simply state o fact not to be disputed.
Neither am / an alarmist when I say that
a storm is coming, compared with which
Noah's deluge was but an April shower
and that it is the wisest and safest for you
n~1 $oN NM ~ rnk cneo1,, I 1.,eo1 81. Ao~~:A
The invitation that went forth to Noal
sounds i'll our ears: "Come thou and al
thy house into the ark"
Well, how did Noah and his family CONF
into the ark? Did they climb in ut tho
window or come down the roof? No; the,
went through the door. And just so, il w
get into the ark of Gods mercy, it will b,
through Christ, the door. The entranc,
to the ark of old must have been a yer,
large entrance. We know that it was, from
the fact that there were monster animals il
the earlier ages; and, in order to get then
into the ark two and two, according to tn
Bible statement, the door must have beef
very vide and very high. SO the door int
the mercy Of God is a large door. We g
in, not two by two, but by hundreds, an,
by thousands, and by millions. Yea, al
the nations of the earth may 20 in, tel
millions abreast.
The door of the ancient ark was in tn,
side. So now it is through the side o
Christ-the pierced side, the wide-opel
side, the heart side-that we enter. Aha
the Roman soldier, thrusting his spear int,
the Saviour's side, expected only to let thu
blood out, but he opened the way to let nj
the world in. Oh, what a broad Gospel I.
preach! If n man is about to give an enter
tainment, he issues one Or two hundred in,
,:tok.ono n of,,111- ,>-{ ,r nr1 1:,~nt,1 a.
the particular persons whom he wishes t.
entertain. But God our Father makes
banquet, and goes out TO the front door o
Heaven, and stretches out his hands owe,
land and sea-. and, with n voice that pene'
trates the Hindoo jungle. and the Green.
land ice castle, and Brazilian grove, ant
English factory, and American home, criet
out: "Come, for all things are now ready.
It is a wide door! The old cross has beer
taken apart, and its two pieces are stoot
up for the door posts, SO far apart that nj
the world can come in. Kings scatter
treasures on days Of great rejoicing. S.
Christ, u King, comes and %scatters th,
jewels of Heaven. Rowland Hill said tina
crevices of the door. But he was no
obliged thus to go in. After having
preached the Gospel in Surrey Chapel, 60"
ing up toward Heaven, the gatekeeper cried
"Lifl up your heads, ye everlasting gates
and let this man come in" The dying
thief went in. Richard Baxter and Rober
Newton went in. Europe, Asia, Africa
North and South America may yet g.
through this wide door without crowding
Ho, every one!-all conditions, all ranks
all people. Luther saidthat this truth wat
worth carrying on ones knees frome ROM
to Jerusalem; but I think it worth carryin!
all around the globe, and all around tn
heavens, that God so loved the world tina
He gave His only begotten Son, that who
soever believeth in Him should not perish
but have everlasting life" Whosoeve,
will, let him come through the large door
Archimedes wanted n fulcrum on which Il
place his lever, and then he said that hi
could move the world. Calvary is the full
crum and the cross of Christ is the lever
and by that power all nations shall yet b.
lifted.
Further, it is a door that swings boil
ways. l do not know whether the door Of
the ancient ark was lifted or rolled OF
hinges; but this door of Christ opens boil
ways. 1t swings out toward all our woes
it swings in toward the raptures of Heaven
1t swings in to let us in; it swings out to le
our ministering ones come out. All are one
in CLrist-Chlistians on earth and saints il